Nepal, the self-proclaimed grindcore capital of South Asia, bestows the audience of the ghastly genre with another powerful act to lay their ears on: Chepang. Although they are based in New York, and call them ‘immigrindcore,’ they are true to their roots in the Himalayas, and are up for portraying the grim reality of their home country with their socio-political grindcore.
Musically, this, however, is more than straight-up grindcore per se. It is amalgamated with the band members’ earlier influences as well, including hardcore, powerviolence, and even sludge and death metal.
Each song has a fairly distinct sound of its own, but all of which contain that trademark Chepang insignia. The songs range from uber-high-speed blast-beat-laden grind to the sludgy, slow, and heavy, swampy parts. The best word that aptly defines this “Lathi Charge” would be: INTENSE.
But this record also shines in its starkly political content pertaining to class war, structural marginalization, racism, political hypocrisy, and the corrupt government and bureaucracy. The guys behind the music have always taken these themes as primary for their music, but this one pushes the contours further in that it is blatantly bold and defiant (if you know Nepali).
The EP is scheduled to be released through Nerve Altar Records (USA), and Holy Goat Records (Germany) in July. There is already one song, “Kathe-Man-Du” up as a demo for what you can expect.
Prepare for some madness this summer!